Electropneumatic reproduction of music roll



y 1968 L. 1.. VON GUNTEN ,39

ELECTROPNEUMATIC REPRODUCTION OF MUSIC ROLL Filed June 22, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ?g i E "3 I I l l'n i l I\ 23 Qv G f\ w A W INVENTO? LEE L. VON GU/VTEN July 16, 1968 L. L. VON GUNTEN 3,392,912

ELECTROPNEUMATIC REPRODUCTION OF MUSIC ROLL Filed June 22, 1.966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 '%litt'- r /09 /07-- 9 93 ii QUE 97 him 56 95 Mull 33/ 87 a5.

INVENTOR.

.VO/V 6 NEW By if United States Patent 3,392,912 ELECTROPNEUMATIC REPRODUCTION OF MUSIC ROLL Lee L. Von Gunten, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Seeburg Corporation, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 22, 1966, Ser. No. 559,477 1 Claim. (Cl. 23475) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for detecting control apertures in a music roll and duplicating the positioning of these apertures in a blank roll is illustrated. The apertures in the music roll are detected by an electrical sensing arrangement in which an electrical signal is produced when an aperture appears adjacent a sensor. The electrical signal actuates an electromagnetic device to open an air line to cause a pneumatic punching device to reproduce an aperture at the desired location in the blank roll.

This invention relates generally to the reproduction of music rolls of the type used in player pianos and, more particularly, to an arrangement for electrically detecting punched apertures on an original music roll and pneumatically reproducing these apertures on a blank music roll.

The emergence of electrical musical instruments, most particularly the electrical piano, has rejuvenated interest in player pianos and in music rolls therefor. In player pianos a wide tape, or roll, contains punched apertures arranged in a particular pattern to define a musical score. As the rolls are fed through a player piano the punched apertures are sensed and the piano is caused to generate musical notes to produce the musical selection represented by the pattern of apertures on the music roll.

For commercial purposes, it is necessary to be able to accurately reproduce a music roll, so that a plurality of music rolls containing a given musical selection may be made available to the public. Previously, the punched apertures in a music roll have been detected pneumatically, with the pneumatic detecting arrangement controlling a pneumatic punching apparatus to produce the same pattern of punched apertures in a blank roll. The major difficulty with this system is the inaccuracy of the pneumatic sensing arrangement. This inaccuracy resulted from the inherent inability of a pneumatic system to produce definite and distinct pulse indications by an air flow directed at a roll having punched apertures. The air flow directed at the music roll will pass through an aperture when it is positioned opposite the air flow, thus indicating the presence of the aperture. Unless the punched aperture positions are widely separated, entailing waste of the music roll material, the air forced through an aperture sometimes will extend into an adjacent area to erroneously represent an aperture in that area, and, therefore, cause an undesired aperture to be produced in the blank roll. In addition, the pneumatic sensing arrangement is bulky and involves all of the leakage and pressure maintenance problems normally encountered when utilizing a fluid under pressure. To obviate these difficulties the subject invention was evolved to permit the use of an accurate electrical sensing arrangement, while yet retaining the desirable pneumatic punching apparatus.

Briefly, in a preferred form thereof, the present invention involves passing an original music roll, which is to be reproduced, over an electrically conducting roller. A contact holder is positioned adjacent the conducting roller and is provided with contacting fingers formed of spring ice metal. These contacting fingers engage the original music roll as it passes between the roller and contact holder. When an aperture is present under one of the contacting fingers, a circuit will be completed through the conducting roller to produce an electrical signal indicating the presence of the punched aperture. Therefore, the abovedescribed elements constitute a sensing circuit for determining the presence or absence of apertures in the original music roll. A control circuit utilizes the output of the sensing circuit to reproduce the apertures on a blank roll. The control circuit comprises an electromagnetic actuator associated with each of the contacting fingers. The occurrence of an electrical signal, indicating the presence of a punched aperture, will cause the associated actuator to be energized. Operation of the actuator will open an air port to cause a pneumatic punching apparatus to be activated to produce a punched aperture on the blank roll at the same position that the detected aperture appears on the original music roll.

Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a system for rapidly andaccurately reproducing a music roll containing a pattern of punched apertures representing a given musical selection.

Another object of this invention is to provide a system for accurately reproducing a music roll having a pattern of punched apertures indicative of a given musical selection by electrically sensing the apertures in the roll to be reproduced and pneumatically reproducing these apertures in a blank roll.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a music roll electrical sensing arrangement which may be utilized with existing pneumatic punching apparatus for reproducing music rolls, and which will permit music roll material to be saved by a closer spacing of the punched apertures.

These and other objects, advantages, and features of the subject invention will hereinafter appear, and, for purposes of illustration, but not of limitation, an exemplary embodiment of the subject invention is shown in the appended drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the electrical sensing and control features of the device produced in accordance with the preferred teachings of the subject invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged side view of the electrical sensing arrangement produced in accordance with the preferred teachings of the subject invention;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary front view of the electrical sensing arrangement depicted in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a detailed diagram of the electromagnetic control structure utilized in the preferred teachings of the subject invention.

In FIGURE 1, an original music roll 1 that is to be reproduced is shown extending between two rotatable drums 3 and 5. Music roll 1 is stripped from drum 3 by rotation of drum 5 by conventional means (not shown). As music roll 1 is conveyed from drum 3 to drum 5, it passes over a roller 7 in a read-out head assembly 9. Roller 7 is made of a conducting material and rotates as music roll 1 passes over it. A positive DC supply potential is provided for roller 7 on lead 11 to maintain that roller at a positive potential.

A contact holder 13 is located adjacent roller 7, but on the other side of music roll 1, so that music roll 1 passes between roller 7 and contact holder 13. Contact holder 13 carries a plurality of finger-like spring contacts 15. Contacts 15 are formed of spring metal and are positioned against music roll 1 as it passes over roller 7 during operation of read-out head 9. There may be any number of contacts 15, depending upon the number of information channels formed laterally on music roll 1, since a contact 15 is associated with each of the information channels. In the music roll industry the number of channels on a music roll is standardized at one hundred, so for purposes of this preferred embodiment it will be assumed that there are one hundred channels on music roll 1 and thus one hundred contacts 15 on roller 13.

Each of the contacts 15 is connected to a particular electrical circuit lead 17 (only three such circuits are shown in the diagram, but a total of one hundred of these circuits are utilized in the preferred embodiment). Any type of connection may be utilized in conveying the signal from contacts 15 to leads 17.

Electrical conductor leads 17 are connected to a plug 29. Plug 29 connects each lead 17 to a corresponding line 31. Each of the lines 31 is connected to a corresponding actuator 33 (again, only three of a total of one hundred actuators utilized in this preferred embodiment are illustrated in the FIGURE 1 diagram). Actuators 33 are a conventional type of electromagnetic solenoid having cores 34 and coils 35. One end 36 of each of the coils 35 is connected to a ground lead 37. The other end 38 of each of the coils 35 is connected to a corresponding line 31.

Power for the electrical sensing and control circuit of FIGURE 1 is obtained from an AC line (e.g., 120. volts) by plug 45. The AC voltage is converted to DC and provided to the circuit by a conventional DC power supply arrangement 47 (shown only in block form). The DC potential is then supplied to control box 49 through plug 51 and leads 53, 55.

Control box 49 has a power control switch 57 which controls the energization of the electrical sensing and control circuit. Control box 49 is also provided with a pilot light 59 which indicates when power is being supplied to the circuit. When switch 57 is in the on position, a positive DC potential is applied to roller 7 through line 11 and to one side of solenoids 33 through lines 31.

In FIGURES 2 and 3 the structure of the read-out head assembly 9 is illustrated in more detail. It may be seen that roller 7 is supported at one end by a short shaft portion 61 (the other end of roller 7 being supported in an identical manner). Shaft 61 extends through a support member 63 and is journaled therein by hearing portions 65 and 67.

Similarly, the end of contact holder 13 is supported by a shaft 69 which extends through the support member 63 (the other end of contact holder 13 being supported in an identical manner). Contact holder 13 is disengageably connected to shaft 69 by a set screw 71. A portion 73 of shaft 69 extends beyond support member 63 and supports a rectangular bar 75. Rectangular bar 75 has a slot 77 extending from the end of member 75 adjacent shaft 73 for a predetermined distance along the longitudinal dimension of the rectangular member 75. A bolt 79 is placed through rectangular bar 75 at right angles to slot 77, so that tightening of bolt 79 will rigidly affix bar 75 to shaft 73, while loosening of bolt 79 will permit shaft 73 to rotate within bar 75.

At the end of rectangular bar 75 away from shaft 73, there is located a stop member 81. During operation of the sensing arrangement, finger contacts 15 will be pressed against music roll 1 and roller 7. As shown in FIGURE 2, the motion of music roll 1 will be from right to left, so that the force against finger contacts 15 would tend to make contact holder 13 rotate in a clockwise direction (in the FIGURE 2 view). Therefore, if bolt 79 were tightened to rigidly connect rectangular bar 75 to shaft 73, the end 80 of rectangular bar 75 would be brought to bear against stop member 81. Thus, during operation of the sensing arrangement, rectangular bar 75 and stop member 81 serve to maintain finger contacts 15 in a position abutting music roll 1 in roller 7.

The diagram shown in FIGURE 4 illustrates a preferred construction of the actuators 33 as used in the described embodiment of this invention. Coils 35 are covered with an insulating layer 83, with coil ends 36 and 38 diagrammatically represented as connected to terminals 85 and 87 respectively. An armature member 89, having a main portion 91 and a secondary portion 93, is pivotally connected to a support 95. A bias spring 97, connected to the secondary portion 93 of armature 89, normally holds the armature 89 in the position shown in FIGURE 4.

The main portion 91 of armature 89 supports a disc 99, made of leather, cork or other suitable resilient material. In the position of armature 89 shown in FIGURE 4, disc 99 blocks an aperture in nozzle 101 of negative pressure pneumatic line 103. Nozzle 101 is held in the position shown in FIGURE 4 by affixing it to support member 105. A portion 107 of electromagnetic core 34 of actuator 33 is positioned directly beneath the main portion 91 of armature 89, so that upon energization of actuator 33 disc 99 will be removed from the aperture of nozzle 101. This permits air to enter the line 103.

Pneumatic line 103 extends from the aperture of nozzle 101 through a stationary support 109 to a conventional pneumatic punching apparatus shown schematically as a block 111 in FIGURE 4. Pneumatic punching apparatus 111 is a conventional type of pneumatically energized punch, which does not constitute any part of this invention per se. While a pneumatic punching apparatus is employed in the preferred embodiment of this invention, it should be obvious to one skilled in the art that the system could be modified to utilize a conventional mechanical punching apparatus.

The complete operation of this invention may now be fully understood with reference to the above-described drawingsv Each of the finger contacts 15 is pressed against music roll 1 and roller 7. If a punched aperture appears in the information channel with which the particular contact 15 is associated, a positive DC supply potential will be applied to contact 15 through line 11 and roller 7. This positive voltage is connected to a corresponding actuator 33 through a lead 17, plug 29, and a line 31. This positive potential produces a DC current through this path to the end 38 of coil 35, and then through coil 35 to ground.

Current flow through coil 35 energizes actuator 33 and produces a magnetic force at portion 107 of core 34. The magnetic force on portion 107 rotates armature 89 against the force of spring 97 to remove disc 99 from the aperture in nozzle 101. Removal of disc 99 from the aperture in nozzle 101 permits the flow of air in line 103 to activate conventional pneumatic punching apparatus 111. Pneumatic punching apparatus 111 then punches an aperture in a blank roll at a position corresponding to the position of the sensed aperture in music roll 1.

After the energizing potential is removed by contact 15 returning to music roll 1 from roller 7, spring 97 rotates armature 89 back to its original position so that disc 99 seals the aperture in nozzle 101 to prevent the entry of air into line 103.

It should be understood that the embodiment described is merely exemplary of the preferred practice of the present invention and that various changes, modifications, and variations may be made in the arrangements, details of construction, and operations of the elements disclosed herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device adapted for producing, from blank rolls, automatic player piano music rolls duplicating an original music roll having a multiplicity of punched apertures to define a particular musical arrangement, the punched apertures being arranged in a plurality of longitudinal information channels, comprising:

a conducting roller formed of electrically conducting material;

a contact holder located adjacent said conducting roller with the original music roll passing between said roller and said contact holder;

a plurality of spring contacts corresponding to the plurality of longitudinal information channels with each of said spring contacts being associated with a particular one of the plurality of channels, said ture, said biasing spring normally pivoting said armature to force said resilient material against an open end of the control line associated with a particular solenoid actuator to prevent the passage of air spring contacts being biased against the original music 5 through said control line, whereby the energization roll as it passes between said conducting roller and of said particular solenoid actuator by the electrical said contact holder, whereby the presence of a signal on the spring contact connected thereto causes punched aperture in one of the plurality of channels said armature to pivot against the force of said biasin the portion of the original music roll between said ing spring to remove said resilient material from the roller and said contact holder causes the associated 10 end of said control line to permit the passage of air spring contact to engage said conducting roller to produce an electrical signal indicating the presence through said line to effect operation of said pneumatic punching apparatus to punch an aperture in the blank of said punched aperture in said one channel; roll.

a pneumatic punching apparatus; References Cited a plurality of air-conveying control lines connected to said pneumatic punching apparatus to eflect opera- N TED STATES PATENTS tion thereof; and

a plurality of solenoid actuators corresponding to the plurality of longitudinal information channels with 1 401201 12/1921 Smith 234 79 each of said solenoid actuators connected to a par- 1173874 2/1916 Sco g "i X ticular one of said plurality of spring contacts and 2935046 5/1960 Panisidi X associated with a particular one of said control 3066859 12/1962 Darwin 234 107 lines, each of said solenoid actuators comprising a pivoted armature member having a main portion and O GN ATENTS a secondary portion, a biasing spring connected to 249 3 2 7 19 2 Germany.

the secondary portion of said armature and a resilient material located on the main portion of said arma- WILLIAM S. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

